Hey all, I asked my wife (a prolific artist) what she would like for her birthday and she said "a welder"! Seems she wants to do a little metal sculpting. I admit, I could use one also. However, I know nothing about what is out there (brands, types, etc.) and need advice as to what to buy. Since this is a test, it needs to be easier to use but I don't want to rapidly outgrow it. Also, it will probably be just for steel work. Suggestions?

I've been attending a welding and fabrication course in simi valley which is about a half hour from you,a better choice would be to enroll her in the program, there's lots of choices in welders ,great instructiors as well as many artists there.Having a welder is just one piece of the puzzle in any fab work from race car fab to art work.call if you have any questions about the classes jeff 805-368-5857

If you are going to run it on 120V, there is two choices for good welders, the Lincoln or the Miller.

If you need more juice for thicker stuff, than you can go to the similar 220V models from the same manufacturers, they will be pricier though.

Lincoln
Miller

I bought the Lincoln from this eBay vendor (because it was a little bit less expensive), I think it's the best deal around and the service was excellent, so I can recommend them.

Take your time and see what you actually will do with the welder before commiting.

Don't forget also about the gas bottle, decide if you want to rent one or buy your own and have it filled. If both of you are going to do work, then go for a bigger bottle anyway.

There are less expensive units out there, but parts availability and quality of manufacturing and versatility will not be as good. If you're on a budget try going for a good quality used machine. You may be lucky but from what I saw, the ones on eBay go for a pretty penny and I preferred to put the extra $100 and just buy a new one.

Good luck!

220Volt mig welder. Lincoln or Miller is good. You can run flux core wire size.035 at first and if you get good, then you can run argon and plain wire like a t70 series. These things run like electric caulking guns and are fun to work with. 220V is the way to go since you can weld from the thin stuff with like a .022 wire to like heavy stell with .035 wire. The sales person will help you with the details. Cutting metal is a whole other story since you can cut almost anything with a side grinder and cutting wheels, FERUS metals with acetalene and oxygen torches or go for the real deal and get a plasma cutter to cut almost any type of "noncombustible" metals in any shape imaginable.

Gluck

All this talk makes me jelly-ous. I've been wanting a welder for a long time....

I wanted to learn how to weld. I grabbed a bunch of pics of gokarts off the web. Bought a Harbor Freight MIG welder and went to town. I did opt for going to a 'real' welding shop to pick up a nice dual guage/regulator kit and my own bottle of Argon/CO2 gas. That way if I ever outgrow the HF welder, I can keep the nice reg/bottle setup. The welder at HF was about $175... the tank/reg/guages was about $250. I've had this welder going on 2+ years and haven't needed to upgrade to the lincol, miller or hobart... YET... lol. However, there is a distinct difference in the 'sound' of a lincoln vs. the harbor freight. The miller get's a much nicer sound to it. Must be all the real electronics vs. the harbor freight old school windings. Anyway... I've built the gokart, headboard, foot board, welder cart, entertainment center, worked on my project cars, friends cars, etc etc etc with my HF welder. For as much as I use it, I don't think I'll replace it until it dies and forces me into it. Honey??? why do the lights keep dimming while you're in the garage????